


Pieces: the fourth quarter.

by wily_one24



Series: Pieces [4]
Category: Firefly
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-29 07:37:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14468007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wily_one24/pseuds/wily_one24
Summary: Sometimes pieces fit, sometimes they don't and sometimes they can't be put back together. Final installment.





	Pieces: the fourth quarter.

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer:I don't own 'em and I sure don't make any money off them. That said, the last little character, she is mine. 
> 
>  
> 
> Comments: Written for the Joss100, this section contains prompts 76-100, plus a little extra epilogue piece. You can take or leave the epilogue. I kinda like it.
> 
> * * *

Pieces: the fourth quarter.

## Pieces: the fourth quarter.

***

Prompt 076: Terror.  
Words: 765. 

**HANDS.**

"Jayne!" 

She felt the dust scratch on her legs as she was dragged back, hands twisting her shoulders and arms back until she cried out with it. Somebody else, a man whose voice made her shiver said something to Jayne she couldn't hear, but she'd seen the gun. 

The hood came over her head before she could scream again, a black cloth that tasted foul in her mouth, like old sweat and grime. It tightened painfully around her neck and she was dragged up to a standing position. 

One of them had let her arm go to hold it and her hand scrambled at the bag, but it was already tightening so hard she could barely gasp. Without thinking about it, she ran her hand up the arm that was holding the bag and dug her nails into the soft flesh of the underarm. 

A loud curse followed and she felt cool air rush in as she was let go. Immediately she stepped back, trying to get away as she tore the bag from her head and tossed it into the dust. She blinked in the half light of the moon. 

A foot found the back of her knee and she fell to the ground again, gasping. She managed to see someone move next to her, but didn't have time to react before his hand was twisting in her hair, making her wince. 

"Get up." 

Kaylee was dragged up again, her feet skidding for purchase in the dust. Her eyes rolled to the left and she saw the other man nudging at Jayne with his gun. A vivid gush of red oozed down the side of his face. The man who held her brought his face close to hers and his breath smelled like cabbage. 

"You're a feisty one, ain't ye?" 

She spat at him. His eyes flashed and his whole grip on her shifted as he reared his free hand back. Her eyes closed and she waited for a blow. It didn't come and she heard the distinct sound of a gun being cocked. 

Her eyes opened slowly and she saw the man standing over Jayne as he pointed his gun at the man holding her. 

"Don't mark her face." The words chilled her. "How many times do I have to tell you?" 

"Please?" She spoke to the man with the gun, figuring he was the leader. "Please, let us go?" 

"Let you go?" His eye brow arched and the two men holding her laughed. "How about no?" 

"Please, he's hurt..." She couldn't help but strain her neck against their hold, feeling her hair pull as she tried to see Jayne again, still kneeling, still dazed and bloody and face slack, his eyes angry. "At least let me make sure he's okay." 

"You're asking me for favors?" He sounded amused and Kaylee hated him. "Oh, don't worry, your friend here will be fine." 

Jayne gave a grunt as the man kicked him, almost as an afterthought to his speech. 

"He's a little drugged up right now, so we can take him to the transport ship. But he'll be just fine, I'm sure they'll get at least four or five good years of hard, manual labor out of him before he breaks." 

She shivered when he turned to face her full on, his eyes sliding up and down her body. 

"You, however, you don't look like you're built for physical work at all." 

The cabbage man sneered as he let his hand wander. 

"I reckon I can find something real physical for her to do." 

There were too many hands, holding her tight, holding her still as she tried to squirm away from them. She could feel fingers squeezing the skin on her arm until it was impossible for there not to be bruises. 

"Stop it?" Kaylee felt a tear sneak out from her eye and slide, hot and vengeful, down her cheek. "Please?" 

"You heard her boys." The man with the gun stepped closer. "She asked you to stop it." 

And they did. She looked at him, trying to figure out his new game. 

"I'm interested." He leaned down close to her face. "I'd really like to see how far you'd go to save this man of yours." 

"No." She shook her head. "No." 

"Let her go." 

The voice came from behind them. 

Kaylee felt hope surge in her body as she began twisting around to look. Another hand caught the crook of her elbow and she found herself slammed up against the leader, his gun pointing straight up her chin. 

"Simon." She whispered. 

* * *

Prompt 077: Betrayal.  
Words: 750. 

**CUCKOLDED.**

Jayne forced his eyes to stay open, forced himself to stay alert enough to see what was happening. Kaylee was trying not to whimper, held against the man who'd knocked him down. 

The two of them stood right next to him and if he was quiet about it, went slow about it and didn't make a fuss, he could reach out and let his fingers wrap around her calf. 

The muscles bunched up under his hand and then relaxed. He heard her take a deep breath, sucking the air in through her teeth, and hoped she knew he was still there, still with her. All of them were looking forward. 

"I said, let her go." 

Simon was standing there with some man Jayne hadn't seen before, but there weren't no mistaking the uniform he was wearing. The expression on his face didn't exactly fill Jayne with relief. 

"Sheriff." Gun man greeted him genially. "How's things tonight?" 

"Been better, Eli." A slow, lazy jerk to the side, indicating Simon. "This man reckons you've got something of his." 

Everything was happening in slow motion and he couldn't figure if it was the rest of them or the drugs sliding through his blood and making him dizzy. 

"Something of his?" The man named Eli laughed and Jayne heard Kaylee gasp. "You mean this? She's yours is she?" 

"Yes." Simon bit out and Jayne had to wonder why the hell he didn't bring his own gun. "She's my... intended." 

Jayne gritted his teeth. 

"Sorry to hear it, Son." Eli laughed again. "'Cause I think you're being cuckolded here. The way these two were goin' about." 

"That true?" The sheriff swept his eyes from Simon, over to Jayne and ended at Kaylee and Eli. "'Cause we had an agreement an' if she's as good as married, you gotta let her go." 

"Yeah." Spoke up one of the men who Jayne had marked for pain after they'd manhandled Kaylee. "But if she's just playin' around with this one here, then she's fair game. Your rules. They won't be missed." 

"No." Simon was quick to answer and Jayne was just about ready to hit him, just as soon as he could stand up and beat these other guys down first. "He's nobody. Just the bodyguard." 

"Bodyguard?" Jayne felt Eli's foot press down firmly on his ankle and had to bite back a groan. "Either way, you've been screwed. He wasn't protecting anything." 

Kaylee's leg twitched and he felt her clench against his hand, he gave it a gentle squeeze back. 

"Awful close for a bodyguard." Said one of the other men. 

"She toys with him." For someone who got nervous ordering whisky at a bar, Simon was comin' up with these answers mighty quick. "Like a pet. He's nothing more than a dog that follows her around." 

He felt Kaylee stiffen next to him. 

"That right?" Eli sneered and Jayne heard Kaylee gasp again. "What is it? You with that boy over there? Or you gonna stay with us?" 

"He's..." There was a strain in her voice Jayne didn't even want to think about. "He's telling the truth." 

Eli sighed dramatically. 

"That's a bit disappointing." And she was suddenly shifted out of his reach, Jayne watched her being pushed forward, stumbling as she scrambled towards Simon. "Well then, prove it." 

"What?" Simon gasped out the very question Jayne was thinking. 

"I said prove it." Jayne was gonna smash this man's face in. "The two of you being so intended and all." 

She'd turned to look back at him and Jayne met her eyes. He almost wished he hadn't. He could see the fear in them and tried to smile, tried to give her some other reassurance that he'd be alright. By the way her eyes widened, he didn't think the message had gotten through. 

"Give him a kiss, sweetheart." Eli explained. "And make it worth our while. You can pretend your life depends on it. If that helps any." 

He couldn't watch, Jayne knew he shouldn't watch, not when she'd started crying again, not when he could see the way her shoulders trembled as she turned away from him. 

Not when she stepped towards Simon and certainly not when she pressed herself into his arms and kissed him like she'd done it a million times before, as if she'd never stopped doing it. 

But Jayne couldn't look away and he bit down on his tongue until he tasted blood as the catcalls started to sound around him. 

* * *

Prompt 078: Loyalty.  
Words: 608. 

**DIBS.**

If they got out of this alive, Kaylee was going to kill Simon, she was going to take a wrench and beat him until he no longer resembled anything remotely human. Bile rose in her throat as she turned to look back at the three men standing over Jayne. 

"There." She spat. "Now let us go." 

"Us?" Eli grinned, hamming it up for his more than captive audience. "My dear maiden, there is no 'us' here. There's a you, you're free to go. But the lap dog? He stays here." 

To prove his point, he twisted his hand into Jayne's hair and drew his head back, hard and fast, so that Jayne was gasping upwards, a sound wrenched from his throat. 

"Jayne!" 

She couldn't stop herself starting forward, from moving towards them and Simon's hand came around her waist quick and hard, holding her back. Kaylee breathed in and forced herself to relax, to stand still. 

Her eyes drifted from Jayne, from his clouded eyes that rolled back and forth, to the rocks behind them. To the sight that had greeted her before. She'd turned back to tell them all to go to hell, that she wasn't going to play their games. 

Three men, only one of which was armed, they stood a chance against. Her, Simon and even a half incapacitated Jayne, they could take them. She hadn't needed Jayne's gentle squeezing of her calves to understand that. 

But she doubted they stood much of a chance against the dozen or so more armed men lounging over the boulders. Watching them. She'd had to make her performance good and she had to make it believable. Even if she hated herself for it. 

Even if it made Jayne glare like a wounded beast. 

"What's it going to be, then?" Eli smirked. "Are you going, or are you staying with us? The more the merrier, we hear, and you look like know how to have a good time." 

"We're not leaving without him." 

She glared at him, because it was easier to face him and his threats than to look at Jayne. His eyes bored into her, hazed, but still wild and full of a vicious anger. Easier than noticing Simon's hand holding her back from doing something stupid. 

"I call dibs, boys, she's mine first." Before this night was through, Kaylee promised that she was going to see Eli bleed. His eyes glittered as he looked her over. "Have to admit, sweetheart, you're..." 

A single, sharp shotgun blast sounded from the distance and Kaylee's eyes widened as she saw the hole spread through Eli's chest. His face blanked out in confusion and he slowly fell forward. 

Silence. 

A second shot sounded and the Sheriff next to Simon fell. 

Chaos erupted as the men hidden over the boulders began to gather their weapons and search the distance. The two unarmed men by Jayne began to scramble at Eli's body for his gun. 

"Well, well, well." Oh, Kaylee had never felt so happy to hear that voice in her life. "Seems we got a delivery of parts and now we're here to collect our mechanic." 

She turned to see Mal striding towards them, Zoe at his side and Inara and River behind them. 

"Well, Zoe?" As far as Kaylee was concerned, Mal could sound as smug as he liked. 

"Yes, Sir." Came the answer. "Big. Damn. Her..." 

An explosion went off above the rocks and the men that could, began to scatter. 

"Grenades?" Mal spluttered "River? You brought grenades?" 

"Probabilities were high." Came the answer, unconcerned. "It seemed warranted." 

Kaylee threw Simon's hand from around her and ran to Jayne. 

* * *

Prompt 079: Enemy.  
Words: 891. 

**HIS OWN WORST...**

Kaylee was fine, she was going to be okay. Jayne made sure of that fact before he gave over to it and let himself topple forward onto the ground. The grit hit his face hard and he felt it mingle with the blood, scratching his already raw temple, but he didn't really care. 

There was something wrong with time, it was going too fast or it was going too slow, one or the other, he couldn't tell. Either way, it wasn't going the way it should. 

He felt soft hands that couldn't be anyone else other than Kaylee. Heard her voice calling for Mal and Simon. A cough bubbled up into his throat as he was forced up, propped up with one arm around Mal and the other around Zoe. 

"Keep him walking." Jayne was gonna scratch his ears 'til they bled if it meant he didn't have to hear that voice again. "Whatever drug it was will wear off more quickly that way." 

It woulda been funny, Jayne thought in the haze, if it was any other time. Him leaning against Mal an' Zo, them all but dragging him forward and his feet stumbling at every other step. Like he was drunk. 

God, he wished he was drunk. 

"S'there whisky?" 

"Not right now." That hadda be Mal, man was always pissin' on someone's parade. "C'mon, Jayne, we'll be at the ship soon." 

"Oh, god." Kaylee again. "Look at his ankle." 

"It's not broken. I checked before. What about you? You're bleeding, too." 

Yeah, Simon, Jayne thought, better not lose the chance to check her over real good. Oh, but that was a bad thought, better not think that. So he looked down. 

"S'I got a ankle?" 

"Yes, Jayne, you've got two of them." Zoe sure sounded pretty when her voice was warm like that. "It's your lucky day. Keep walking." 

"I'm fine, Simon, just..." 

The strain in her voice broke Jayne out of his stupor and he stopped still, fighting the urge to drop down and give into another wash of dizziness. 

"Leave her alone, Doc." 

"Come on." Mal urged him forward. "Look, there's Serenity now." 

Everyone was quiet after that and he felt his senses slowly returning to normal with each step they took. 

"Jayne?" Kaylee came to stand in front of them just as they hit the ramp. "What...?" 

"Mal?" He looked at the Captain. "You really got those engine parts?" 

"Yeah." The answer came softly. 

"Then you got a job to do, Kaylee." It was the first thing he'd said to her and he hadn't even met her eyes. "Best go do it and get us off this rock." 

He didn't need to look her in the face to see the shock that would be there, knew that she'd be covered in hurt and that her eyes would be the worst of it. That they'd be looking at him all wounded and teary. 

Jayne didn't trust himself to say anything else just then. He pushed himself forward, kept heading towards the med bay, not even bothering to try and fight Mal when he ordered Simon to check him out. 

* 

He lay on the gurney with his eyes closed tight. There was the soft, regular pull of weaves through the side of his head and he relished the pain, had refused any more pain meds just so he could feel every piece of dirt that was pulled from it. 

Jayne tried to picture Kaylee in his head. Kaylee laughing at one of his dirty jokes, her eyes sparking up so fast, the way her neck flushed with it. Tried to remember the way she looked when she was sleeping, all curled up into him, face blank and peaceful. 

Tried to think about her a dozen different ways other than the ones which forced themselves into his head. Kaylee sitting there with Simon. Kaylee agreeing that he weren't nothing more than a dog. Kaylee kissing Simon. Over and over again. 

His eyes flew open and he grabbed Simon's wrist. 

"You value that pretty face of yours, Doc." He felt the acid seep into his mouth and wanted to spit. "Then you best not find yourself alone with me again. You hear me?" 

"I didn't..." Simon's hand shook in his. "I never meant it to go that far." 

"You don't play with those kindsa people." He let go. "And now, you don't play with me." 

He closed his eyes again and let the doctor finish stitching his head, the images flooding his brain again and making him clench his jaw until it ached. 

And the worst part about it was that it wasn't anyone's fault. Not really. Simon had done what he thought he needed to get them out of it. Kaylee had done the only thing she could. He knew how bad it could have been for all of them. He knew it, knew exactly what they would've done to her. And he woulda yelled long and hard if she'd gone and done something stupid back there. 

But she hadn't. She'd played along and he'd watched and now he couldn't forget. He tried to picture something else, anything else, but he just couldn't do it. Every time he saw her face, he saw Simon's and it made his gut twist, made him swallow so hard he couldn't breathe. 

* * *

Prompt 080: Lover.  
Words: 528. 

**HOLLOW.**

It was late when she found herself pushing open the hatch to her bunk. So late it was almost morning. The familiar sound of Serenity's engines lulled her even further to near sleep. 

Kaylee left River and Mal to fly them out and away, her job was done. 

She wasn't expecting Jayne to be waiting for her, wasn't expecting him to be in her bunk half asleep. A feeling of relief washed over her, solid and smooth, and a knot that had been building in her stomach began to untie itself. 

Her dress fell to the floor and she eased herself under the blankets, nestling into the warmth of them. Even her eyes ached, she was that tired and tense and worn out. 

"You alright?" She whispered as she reached out to touch his shoulder. 

A spark flew between them as her finger made contact with his skin and she felt his hand close in on her wrist, holding it still as he rolled over to face her, to lean over her. 

"Jayne?" 

"Shh." 

He dropped her hand off to the side. It landed next to her head and she let her eyes stretch sideways to look at it, confused. His own hand came down to land on her shoulder, sliding down the flesh of her breasts as his leg slid between hers. 

"Okay." She answered him softly. "Okay." 

It was different. That was the only word she could think to describe it. Different. Didn't want to give it any other name as he loomed over her, pushing between her legs and closing his eyes so he didn't have to look at her face. 

Kaylee tried to make it alright, tried to make it better as she reached up and ran her hand down his cheek. Better, as she leaned up and tried to kiss his mouth, his neck, anywhere she could reach. But he kept twisting away from her. 

Eventually, she fell still, falling back against the pillow as she stared up to the ceiling, her hands fisting against the sheet. She wondered if he even noticed. 

He slowed down, then he stopped, unfinished. His arms shook as they held him up, hovering above her. Her eyes were closed by then and she felt his breath on her face, felt his forehead touch hers lightly. 

"I'm sorry." His voice was hoarse and it scratched at her. "I can't." 

Jayne rolled away from her, curled himself into the wall, and Kaylee felt a gust of air force its way into her lungs. She opened her eyes and stared, hollow, up at nothing. 

His body had always been warm, had always radiated heat and that hadn't changed. She could feel it seeping from his back across the sheet, felt the urge to lay her hand across his skin, to mold herself to him. 

But there was a wall between them now, big and solid and strong and she didn't know how to break it down. Her throat ached with the need to reach him. His heat, lying so close and yet so untouchable, made her cold inside. 

Kaylee swallowed the large, choking sobs and silently cried herself to sleep. 

* * *

Prompt 081: Book.  
Words: 524. 

**PENANCE.**

"What are you doing?" 

It shouldn't have surprised him that she sought him out. Jayne kept his eyes focused on the pages in front of him, kept scanning them over and over again. The words had lost any shape and meaning long ago. 

"Looking." 

Her hand came out and settled softly over his, pushing down until he had to stop running his fingers along the page. He couldn't breathe. Gently, so gently he wasn't even sure he was doing it, he pulled his thumb from out of her grasp and grazed the skin of her hand. 

"It's not in there." 

She said it softly and he closed his eyes. Blocked out everything but the feel of her skin, soft and supple under his as he drew circles. His mouth opened and he sucked the air in through his lips. He could drown in just the ripples she was causing. 

"Yeah, it is." And he closed the rest of his fingers around the book and pulled it closer to him, away from her. "It's gotta be." 

He wasn't watching her, but he was intensely aware of her sitting down at the edge of the weight bench as he sat at the head. He could trace all the minute movements she made. Just from memory alone. 

"Is that...?" 

Jayne let his fingers feel the worn cover as he closed the book, pressed the pages together and let it sit there on the bench between them. Maybe if he held them tight enough, he could squeeze the meaning out, make it ooze out the sides like butter from a biscuit. 

"He gave it to me." A shrug. "'Fore he left." 

"Jayne..." For a second, it sounded like he could find the answers in her voice. 

"He said if I needed something, it'd be in here. I just had to wanna find it hard enough." He risked a quick glance up and the power in her eyes made him look down again. "But there's nothin' here for real life, it's all loaves and lambs and people begetting each other." 

Stupid gorram book, with its stupid gorram messages about things nobody knew anymore. He hadn't seen anything in there about women with gashes on their legs, bruises the shapes of fingers on their arms and bruises bigger than that on the inside. 

"I miss you, Jayne." Her voice caught, hitching. "I miss..." 

"Don't know why." He broke in, biting his lip. "I ain't no good for you." 

"Yes." It was a gasp, a mantra that she'd been holding in, he could tell. "Yes, you are." 

Jayne closed his eyes and forced himself to remember lying next to her, feeling the way her whole body jerked with tears. Lying there, knowing it was his fault. At least he had a memory without Simon. 

"Gorram it, woman." He stood up, tossing Book's bible to the side. "Can't a man get some peace around here?" 

His bunk was empty when he climbed down into it. Stripped down and bare. He added the way she'd flinched when he'd moved suddenly to his growing arsenal of reasons why it had to be that way. 

* * *

Prompt 082: Nature.  
Words: 527. 

**VAULT.**

There was an empty chair across from her at dinner and Kaylee pushed her food around her plate. She wasn't hungry, she hadn't been hungry for days now. Not that she'd noticed anyone having a particularly large feast since they'd flown away from Three Hills. 

They'd sent an alert to the cortex and, as far as they'd heard, some traffic had stopped going there, the pastor had called for outside help and things would be better there than they had in a while. 

A lot of disruption and the ripples of it would haunt the people involved for a long time. That sounded vaguely familiar. 

"It'll just take time." She said, to no one in particular, to everyone. "He'll start back with us, soon." 

She didn't need to look up to see the way everyone glanced at each other around her head. They'd been doing it for days, like she was a time bomb set to go off and they'd all lost the timer that told them when. 

"I just..." Maybe if she kept pressing the button, somebody would answer, would tell her something that would make her feel better. "... need to give him more time. He's like that. Just needs time." 

"Mei mei." The way Inara said it made Kaylee look up. 

Not one of them looked like they were gonna say anything hopeful. 

"What?" 

Not one of them met her eye. 

"He didn't tell you?" 

Zoe was scary when she talked like that, all soft and full of worry. 'Cause when Zoe got soft, it meant people better take note. 

"What?" She asked again, searching all of them until she came to rest on Mal. "Tell me what?" 

"He's leaving." And Mal didn't look happy to be giving that news. "When we touch down tomorrow, he's off the boat. He's already made a contact for a different ship." 

"No." But it rang horribly true. "No, he can't." 

She saw it, saw it in the way Mal and Inara looked at each other, like they'd had this discussion before, in the way that Zoe's eyes got all crinkled when she looked at her, in the way Simon wouldn't look up and his face blanched out white. 

Kaylee felt it building, a slowly rising panic. It had been hard over the last few days, but she'd kept telling herself it would get better. Things always got better. Be patient, repeated it over and over again when Jayne wouldn't stay in the same room with her, when he wouldn't talk to her, be patient. 

Her eyes flew to River. 

"But you said." It was almost like desperation. "You said about the flowers and the bees and be patient. You said! And I'm doing that!" 

"Kaylee..." Inara's hand covered hers on the table. 

"It's not applicable." River said carefully. "Jayne's not a flower. That's not his way." 

"What am I supposed to do?" Kaylee didn't even care anymore how pathetic she sounded. "Help me." 

"He's a vault." And River watched her with steady, calm eyes. "You have to break him now. Once the door is sealed, it won't ever open. Not to anyone. And it's nearly closed already." 

* * *

Prompt 083: Eternal.  
Words: 1240. 

**SOME THINGS REMAIN THE SAME.**

He didn't even know what he was doing. 

Jayne knew this ship in and out, he'd been in all her corners and knew some of the good hidey holes, could list all the little foibles, like the third stair that ran down from the bridge to the cargo bay. It wobbled and, no matter how many times Kaylee fixed it and tightened the bolts, it always went back to wobbling. Everyone just stepped over it. 

The point was, he knew it. 

He'd even been here before. Not many times, in fact he could probably count 'em on one hand, but he still knew the shape of it, the smell of it. Maybe he was trying to get it all in his head so he wouldn't forget. 

He knocked, slow and careful. 

"Jayne!" Inara covered her surprise quickly as she stepped back from the door. "Please, come in." 

"I... uh..." It was always different in her shuttle, like walking into a different world. "I wanted to ask you a favor." 

Her eyes searched his for a second, as if waiting for something. 

"Yes." She said, finally. "Of course, Jayne. What is it?" 

"Well, see." Best get it over with quickly. "I asked River an' she kept telling me to go see Kaylee and then she wouldn't talk to me at all, an' I figure there's no point asking Zoe, 'cause she won't... I could pay you, if you want. I mean, I don't have much money now, but I could forward credits back once I get settled somewhere else." 

She blinked. 

"Jayne? What are you...?" 

It clicked. 

"Oh, no, not that!" It even made him smile a little. "Don't get me wrong, Inara, you're a real fine lookin' woman and all, an' maybe one time I woulda... but I don't mean that. Sorry." 

Her face remained calm and smooth, but he could see the amusement in the back of her eyes. It made him wonder if everyone saw it, if her clients could see things like that, or even if they cared to. 

"Well, I'm sure I'll manage." She smiled again and gestured to the sofa. "Why don't we sit down and you can tell me, in more detail, what you're talking about." 

He sunk into the sofa and, if it had been any other time, would have relaxed into it, but he was too worked up, too distracted. 

"I don't have much, never cared to. Things weigh you down out here." It would be so much easier if he was already gone. "So, I was wondering if I could have somethin' of yours, somethin' girly." 

"You want...?" She still didn't look like she understood. "Why?" 

"I got nothin' a girl would want." He paused. "I got nothin' Kaylee would want." 

She closed her eyes and breathed in before looking back at him. 

"You want to leave her a present?" He nodded, relieved that she'd finally caught up. "Jayne, have you considered that she doesn't want anything from you, besides yourself?" 

He shook his head. Not to say that he hadn't thought about that very thing, but because it wouldn't work. He was sure Inara understood that. 

"I'd gladly give you this entire shuttle for free, Jayne, if I thought it would help." 

"Yeah." He went to stand up. "I thought you'd say as much, but I had to ask. Thanks anyway." 

"Sit." Her eyes flashed and she pointed back down. He had no choice but to do it. Once he was settled she smiled again. She was starting to give him the chills. "I take it you haven't talked to Kaylee about all this?" 

"Well, no." He admitted. "I couldn't do that, she'd just try to talk me out of it." 

"And?" She urged him on. "Doesn't that tell you something?" 

"Yeah, it tells me she doesn't know what's good for her." 

Her eyebrows arched. 

"And you do?" 

"It ain't me, Inara." He had to make someone see. "I can't do nothin' right, never have an' I thought maybe I could do this, that I could one good thing. But I can't. I don't wanna hurt her anymore, I don't. I'm a selfish man an' if I stay here I won't be able to say no to her an' she'll come back and I'll just hurt her again." 

Her eyes didn't waiver. 

"You're hurting her now." He flinched when her hand reached out to lay upon his. "Jayne, she had to find out about your leaving from us. Don't you think that was unnecessarily cruel?" 

He let his head hang down and stared at the floor, it was easier than facing the understanding in front of him. 

"How'd she take it?" 

"Not well, I'm afraid. She hasn't said anything to me, I don't think she's said anything to anyone, really, but I get the feeling she blames herself." 

He was afraid of that. 

"It ain't her fault." For this he could look up. "You gotta tell her that, Inara." 

This here, this is exactly why anyone else would've been better. Mal woulda yelled at him, or told him how much of a cock he was being. Zoe would probably have just slapped him and told him to grow a pair. River would've just rolled her eyes and told him to go talk to Kaylee. 

He could take yelling, he could take all the insults and challenges to his manhood, he could take it all and give it back in spades. But Inara? Inara was makin' him think. 

"That's not my responsibility and you know it." Yeah, he was afraid of that, too. "It seems to me that she doesn't blame you and you don't blame her. So the fact that you're both off blaming yourselves is nothing more than a useless waste of time." 

Okay, maybe Inara could get mean. 

"But..." 

"Talk to Kaylee." She patted his hand and then stood up. "And that's not a suggestion. You owe her that much." 

She was right, Jayne knew it, had been trying to talk himself out of it for days. Maybe he'd been trying to talk himself into it, he wasn't sure. He didn't know whether he'd get the courage to do it, or if he'd chicken out. Or even if anything good would come out of it if he did. 

But whatever else, there was something he'd wanted to do to Inara for a very long time. 

"Yeah." He stood up and began edging towards the door with her. "Thanks for talkin' to me, I know you're her friend and all." 

"I consider you a friend, too, Jayne." She smiled again. "I hope you remember that." 

"Well, then." He leaned in a little closer. "Friend to friend? I think you should take your advice more often, it's good advice." 

"My advice?" There was that look of confusion again. "In what?" 

"Talk to Mal." He was expecting the way she widened her eyes a little. "If anyone needs to talk, it's you two. Maybe you'll get to kiss him again." 

"What?" And there was the shock. "I've never kissed Malcolm Reynolds!" 

He waited with a cocky expression on his face and her cheeks flushed a real pretty red. 

"He was unconscious, near death and he doesn't know. That doesn't count." She gathered her robe tighter around her shoulders and frowned at him. "How did you know?" 

"I didn't." He grinned. "'til you just told me." 

And there was the anger. 

"Out!" 

* * *

Prompt 084: Serenity.  
Words: 1201. 

**TRACES.**

Kaylee stood in front of her door, biting her lip as she looked at the name plate. River had done a good job, better than she could have asked for. If anyone had asked her to put a piece of Jayne in something, she would have drawn a gun or something big. But River hadn't, she'd given one of the flowers an eye for its blue center. 

And it was watching her now, glaring at her, sharp and accusing and disappointed. 

Jayne was gone, she'd messed up and she'd lost him. Serenity had been docked, silent and still, for over an hour. She'd lost all her nerve and hidden in the engine room, because she knew he couldn't leave without saying goodbye. Jayne wasn't perfect, far from it, but he wouldn't ever leave her hanging, just disappear into the wind without a word. Nobody was that cold. 

Yet he was gone. 

She'd grown restless, edgy with the wait, skin prickling and brain ticking over every second until she was ready to crawl the walls with it. Serenity was a small ship, too small for a grown man not to be found when somebody was looking for him. 

And she'd looked everywhere, finding nothing but blank rooms behind every door and then the hollowed out shell of his bunk. Empty. There was no trace of him there, not even a trace of herself, nothing but the faintest, barely there smell of him lingering in the air. A few days of space travel and the recycled air would take care of that sure enough. 

He was gone and there wasn't anything to do but slip down into her bunk and cry. 

"Took your gorram time." 

She couldn't breathe, the air was sucked out of her bunk. At least, that's what it felt like. He was sitting there, just lounging back on the bed and looking so comfortable, like he really did belong there, that it all began to ache again. 

Kaylee couldn't breathe, but she could speak. 

"You can't leave." 

She'd thought it would be hard, that there'd be long, awkward silences, gaps and stutters in their words that would be covered by embarrassed glances. Or, worse, hot, angry stares and words so vicious they drew blood. 

But this? This was the easiest thing she'd done as she looked at him. 

"You ain't allowed to leave, Jayne Cobb. Do you hear me?" 

"Kaylee..." He sat up straight, watching her with bright, bright eyes. 

"I don't care if you don't want me no more, I'll stay away from you. I'll do whatever it takes, but you can't leave this ship. It won't be the same if you go." 

"You'd get over me soon enough." He stood up. "All of you, you'd move on." 

She stepped forward, shaking her head. 

"You wanna know what it'd be like if you left?" Kaylee hadn't even known she'd thought about it so much, but apparently she had. "We're gettin' small, too small an' Mal'd have to hire someone else. An' he'd have to be big an' mean, just so's we can keep doing all the jobs. An' he'd smile at Mal and Zoe and Simon, but me an' Inara an' River, we'd have to spend our time locking our doors and stayin' out of his way an' making sure we're never left alone." 

He turned his head, just a little, cocked it to the side to watch her. 

"And Inara would leave again. She'd have to, she couldn't afford that kinda stuff in her line of work. An' then Simon would take River and they'd be gone, too, because they couldn't stay, not with new people who'd sell 'em off. An' I'd be left too scared to leave my bunk, just wondering when he'd be coming for me." 

"Mal'd space any guy before he let happen." Jayne frowned. "You know he would." 

"It'd only have to happen once." She insisted, still happily full of steam. "And what about you? You ready to go back to that? Havin' to share a bunk with someone who'd slit your throat as soon as move aside to let you pass, never able to leave anything around in case it gets stolen? Getting only a half of what you deserve from a job, scraping by on whatever food they think about letting you eat, 'cause they'd rather hoard their takings than buy bigger rations? Never bein' able to sleep, 'cause you gotta keep an eye out for any body who's got worse thoughts than you? Or..." 

"Kaylee." He reached out. "Stop it." 

"See? You can't leave." Big, big eyes that blinked up at him. "You're just not allowed to." 

She hated this, she hated not being able to know what he was thinking. He was so easy to read sometimes, 'cause Jayne may have been many things, but complicated was never one of them. Right then he was a big, stone wall of nothing and she felt like beating her fists against his chest until he crumbled. 

"Like I said." She insisted. "I'll stay out of your way, you won't ever see me. You just... you just can't go. You leave and the whole ship falls apart." 

He was such a big man, he took up all the space there was and yet, somehow, he always managed to fold into himself, to squeeze himself down so that he could look into her eyes, face to face. 

"Is that it?" He frowned. "S'at all you want me here for?" 

And she hit him. 

Couldn't quite stop herself from rearing her hand back and punching the vulnerable curve of his neck, where it sloped down into his shoulder. It gave her a slight sense of satisfaction to see him flinch back from her. 

"Chu ni duh!" She spat it out. "Ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng!" 

"Kaylee!" 

"You get the hell out!" She pushed him towards the door, scrambled her hands over and around his shoulders to his back and shoved him at the ladder. "I can't believe you, Jayne!" 

"What?" He tried to grab her hands, tried to stop her frantic attack. "What I do?" 

"I've been the one tryin' to talk to you!" Her voice raised to a shout. "Me! I've been the one tryin' to make it all good 'tween us and you've done nothing but stay outta my way." 

Another whack across his arm. 

"You wouldn't talk to me!" Whack. "And now you're gonna play the dumb one? You're gonna try and act... like you don't...?" 

He managed to grab her right wrist, so she began hitting him with her left hand. 

"How dare you?" Her foot jumped forward on its own and kicked him in the shin. "I've a good mind to..." 

"Ow." He struggled to grab her left hand. "Quit it!" 

"Make me! You tah ma..." 

Just like that he kissed her, hot mouth over hers and arms coming around to grab her shoulders and surround her and oh, how she'd missed that. She frowned as she pulled her face back, put on her fiercest glare. 

"You ain't forgiven." 

"'Course not." He agreed. 

"You made me feel like crap the last few days, jackass." 

"You got a filthy mouth, babygirl." 

* * *

Prompt 085: Gold.  
Words: 809. 

**ALCHEMY.**

Jayne sat at the table and turned the little piece of metal over and over in his fingers, twisting it from side to side so he could look at it from all angles. He didn't know what had happened and he'd had plenty of time to think about it. 

He'd gone down into her bunk so he could talk to her, to tell her what he was feeling and let her decide what she wanted and then, before he knew it, she was yellin' and he'd said something stupid. 

'Course, he'd heard what he was saying when he said it and he figured if he'd been standing off to the side and had to listen to it, he'd've grabbed a big, heavy stick and beaten himself too, probably until he bled. 

Then he'd kissed her and she'd melted in his arms and none of the words had gotten out and a little piece of him kinda liked it that way. He hated the talking part. Hated it with a passion. 'Course, another piece of him just called him a coward. It was easy to ram that piece back in whatever dark recess it came from, no matter how right it was. 

It wasn't like he felt guilty or nothin', distracting Kaylee like that. That was what she wanted, was what she'd been trying to say all along. It was. No reason to feel bad at all. Not a one. 

The little piece of sparkly in his hand began to look more and more like the tin it was. 

"Pretty presents for pretty girls." 

"Yeah." Jayne didn't even have the energy to bite back at River. "Maybe." 

When he'd set out to go get his stuff back from that ship, Mal had been waiting for him. Laughed as he said he'd known Jayne would never've left and so's his stuff wasn't ever loaded onto the other ship. Gorram, but it was hard to argue with a man when he was right. 

Gave him some time to walk around the small town and think. Not avoid. He'd been doing that enough and he'd told himself he wasn't gonna do that again. No, it wasn't avoiding. It was looking. He was looking for something to make up for what he'd done. 

At the time, standing at the stall with all the shiny trinkets, he'd been blinded by reflection of the sun on 'em, fell to the practiced spiel of the barker. 'Course, he'd been lookin' at the real pretty pieces, the ones behind the glass. 

But he didn't have enough coin for one of those, not nearly enough. His fingers had pressed the coin through the fabric of his pockets, mentally counting up the totals, his eyes sliding from the locked cabinets to the display cushions and, finally, to the little boxes in front. 

There weren't nothin' wrong with this one. 'Ceptin' it wasn't one of the ones he'd wanted. 

"She'll want it." River told him. "It will be precious to her, because it's from you." 

"Might be good." He tried to smile. "But I'm not sure if I'm enough to make gold outta tin." 

"You want the Philosopher's Stone." 

"The what?" Well, maybe Jayne could find some energy to bite back at her if she started going all loopy again. "I look like a philosopher to you?" 

"Not a thing." She gave him one of those looks, the one that meant he was being slow. "An ideal. Alchemists on Earth that Was, they believed the Philosopher's Stone would help them make gold out of lesser materials." 

"Guess I do need that, then." He sighed. "You know what it is, do ya? Know how to do it?" 

"Kaylee does." She reached out and her hand danced on his wrist. "Like Midas, she touches everything and it turns precious." 

Jayne couldn't help but be disappointed. 

"Don't think it'll work this time." 

"Kaylee doesn't need gold." River frowned, her voice getting edgy. "She is gold." 

"Ain't no one shinier." He agreed. 

"Gold is more than shiny rock." She tapped his arm to make him look up at her. "It's valuable, dear in more ways than one. It's strong, incorruptible, but made corruptors of many. And it bends, molds, folds into patterns that it's forced into. Malleable, but never breakable." 

He wasn't sure he understood and she sighed at him. 

"It's stronger than it looks. You can bend it, but it won't break." 

And now he didn't want to understand. 

His fingers squeezed the little trinket tightly, so much that it left dints in the pads, crevasses in the whorls of his fingerprints. 

"I don't think..." 

"Kaylee will want it." River insisted. "She will like it." 

"Yeah, but she deserves better and I'll get it for her." He stood up and let the ring clatter to the table. "You might as well have this one." 

* * *

Prompt 086: Silver.  
Words: 901. 

**TIME AND EFFORT.**

Something was wrong and Kaylee knew it. Not bad wrong, just different wrong. A little part of her couldn't help think about the way Jayne had been before. So open to her, laid out bare and just so generous with himself. Always giving. 

He was just so tight now, all coiled up like he was waiting for the next strike. Like he was wary of her, like she was the one about to attack. It made her edgy and brittle, trying to work around him, trying to make it right for him. 

She asked Inara. Not that she was expecting the answer she was looking for. Inara told her that she needed to give it time and patience. Time and patience, that was all fine for Inara, everything Inara did was slow and smooth and perfect. Inara saw her clients for days, sometimes only hours, time often won out over patience, because she didn't need much of it. 

Kaylee saw herself dangling on a wire for a very long time trying to wait Jayne out of it. And she'd never been very patient. 

She asked Zoe. Zoe told her that they needed to work at it, that any relationship worth having took effort and was the better for it. She didn't want to argue with Zoe on that point, because that just seemed cruel, but Kaylee could have screamed with it. It wasn't as if she hadn't been trying, she'd been trying so hard. 

That left Mal. And Mal had laughed, low and amused. Told her she was being silly, that she was looking for trouble when there wasn't any to be had. They were fine, Mal looked her straight in the eye and told her this, there weren't any other couple so stubborn and bull headed as her and Jayne and maybe he hadn't seen it right away, but he saw it now, that they'd work out just to spite everybody else. Then he'd gone off, mumbling to himself about crew members too blind to see what was right in front of 'em. 

That only left one option. 

Kaylee didn't like to ask River. Not really, it always made her feel just a little bit guilty. It just... it seemed like cheating. Like doing a puzzle and asking someone for help, but knowing that they'd just go ahead and spout out the answers without really letting you do the work yourself. 

Kinda like that. 

Only, River wasn't much help either. 

"Talk to Jayne." Was all River said as she rolled her eyes before Kaylee could even get her first word out. "I told you already." 

"Will it be quick?" She sighed. "Everyone else wants me to be patient." 

A smile quirked River's face and she looked amused. 

"Ooh, hey." Kaylee reached out and took her hand. "That's pretty." 

"I thought so." 

She let her eyes search the thin little band around River's forefinger, it was pretty. They'd stopped planet side for a little longer than Kaylee had thought they would, she hadn't known Simon or River had gone out, but it wasn't like she'd been paying much attention to anyone else. 

It made her happy that River finally got something nice. Maybe Simon was learning after all. There was only so many days out in the black that a girl could look at the same old dresses and hair ties without yearning for a little special something. And River deserved lots of special somethings. 

"Better be careful, though." She dropped River's hand, watching it float back down. "That sorta metal will make your skin go green." 

"Will it?" 

Wasn't that just the way, Kaylee thought. Between the two of them, Simon and River probably knew everything there was to know about the entire Universe. At least, the Universe that made up the core planets. Figured that neither of the brilliant geniuses would know about the effects of cheap materials touching their skin. 

"Yeah." She frowned, an idea already sparking, and grabbed River's hand again to get a closer look at it. "Don't worry, though, I can fix that." 

River smiled. 

"How?" 

"Got a sealant in the engine room. C'mon." River let herself be dragged out of the mess. "Won't take much, just some careful, fiddly applications. Probably take more'n one." 

"Fiddly?" River echoed. "You mean it will take time? And effort?" 

Kaylee stopped and gave her a pointed look. 

"Yeah, just like that. Maybe a bit of patience, too. I know what you're doing." She held out her hand and waited, amused. "But I'll still do this for you. Hand it over." 

"You came to me." River shrugged, but slid the ring off her finger anyway. "I'm helping." 

A shadow passed over the girl's face and Kaylee smiled. 

"Don't worry, it'll be fine. The sealant'll probably make it a bit thicker, but you got real tiny fingers so that don't matter, and then you'll be able to wear it all the time without worrying about your skin." 

"Was never worried." 

"'Till I came along, I guess." Kaylee found a string and threaded the ring onto it. "As long as no one looks too closely at it, it'll look just like the real thing. Better than real." 

River's eyes watched carefully as Kaylee lowered it into the small drum of thick, pearly liquid. 

"Silver and gold." She whispered. 

"Maybe not that good." Kaylee chuckled. "But close. And it'll always be pretty." 

* * *

Prompt 087: Hero.  
Words: 485. 

**THE FIRST LINE OF DEFENCE.**

"It's okay." Kaylee ran a warm hand down his arm. "Really." 

Jayne scowled. 

"No, it ain't." 

"It could happen to anyone." 

"Don't happen to me." He knew he was being stubborn and he didn't care. "Not ever. I ain't no boy wet behind the ears an' nowhere else." 

"But, Jayne..." She had her soothing voice on, but it wasn't exactly soothing him any. "You were just nervous." 

"Nerves ain't got nothing to do with it." 

By the way she bit her lip, he could tell she was trying not to laugh. If she laughed, he was just gonna walk away, leave her to her fit of giggles until she could be serious again. 

Didn't she have any idea how humiliating this could be? 

"Don't blame yourself." At least she was trying to make him feel better. "It wasn't like..." 

"I don't." He could still be grumpy about it, though. "I blame you." 

"Me?" Her eyes went large and her face went red. "What'd I do?" 

"You were all..." He gestured into the air. "With the flailing and the squealing." 

"I didn't squeal!" The slow, warm pat down his arm turned into a firm slap. "It's not my fault, it was... it was just so big." 

"Yeah and the fuss you was making, it was more scared of you than you were of it." 

"For the last time." She glared. "I wasn't scared. It was just... it was messy." 

Her nose crinkled up at that last part. 

"Yeah." He grinned. "It was, wasn't it?" 

Zoe walked past them and glared. 

"You got it in my hair, Jayne." 

"Yes." River wasn't above glaring, either. "And my shoe." 

"Don't know what you're all grumblin' for." He sighed. "I'm the one wasted precious ammo from Vera." 

"It was very brave." Kaylee grinned. "Thank you." 

Jayne grinned back. 

"Yeah." Mal strode up and sighed, batting his eye lashes. "He's my hero." 

"Oh, you shush, Cap'n." Kaylee wrapped her arms up around his and held on tight as she poked out her tongue at Mal. "It was very brave." 

"Kaylee." Mal looked at them both and he could see the patience wearing thin. "He shot a bird. A poor, innocent, little bitty bird." 

"Into little bitty pieces." River scuffed her shoe in the dirt. 

"With a semi automatic." Zoe added as she delicately picked something Jayne wasn't gonna look too closely at out of her hair. "What's heroic is the amount of time I'm going to spend washing this." 

"Well." Kaylee humphed and pulled him closer. "The bird attacked me, first." 

Hell, it was worth staying here for all the ribbing if it meant Kaylee got all huffy and defensive over him. She was cute like that, hell, she was cute all the time, but especially like that. 

"I told ya all, already." He pretended to glare. "I didn't know it was a gorram bird when it first came at you." 

* * *

Prompt 088: Villain.  
Words: 538. 

**I'M GOING TO TURN THIS SHIP AROUND...**

Kaylee grabbed the ear piece and let it dangle from her fingers. 

"C'm here." Jayne glared. "Give it." 

"No." She poked her tongue out and held it further out of his reach. "Make me." 

"Oh, I'll make you, alright." His eyes glittered as he used one arm to pin her waist down, reaching over her body with his bulk as his other arm stretched out past her. "This isn't a game." 

"Hey." She squirmed, stomach down, into the dirt. "Let me go." 

"Make me." He countered, copying her tone exactly as he wrestled her fingers. 

"Right here?" Now, that was a low down, dirty trick, using that voice, and she was fairly certain that wasn't in the rule book, but a girl had to do what a girl had to do. "Out in the open?" 

"Gorram it." He stilled with a little groan and she grinned, spinning around to lie on her back under him. "Kaylee, that ain't fair." 

"Sure it is." She pulled her hand in close to her chest, wrapping the ear piece up into her fingers and holding it close. "An' we both know it." 

"Like that is it?" He challenged and that was a dark, dangerous glint in his eye. "Fine." 

His fingers were strong and nimble and they knew exactly where to prod and poke to leave her squealing and twisting away from him. 

"Stop it!" Feet scrambling in the dirt, trying to push her back. "Jayne! Stop it! Tickling is cheating!" 

"Ain't no cheating out here." He grinned, face glowing with success. "An' we both know it." 

"You're not going..." Her face screwed up with concentration as her right hand snuck out from his reach. "... to win." 

"Sure I..." 

The sharp sound of skin hitting skin made him stop and slowly, slow enough for her to notice the bright red shape of her hand making its appearance on the back of his shoulder and form a mask of innocence and concern, Jayne turned away to look. 

"Sorry." She said it quickly, but they both knew it mean nothing as she smiled guiltily. 

"How many times I tell you?" He pretended to glare. "Stop hittin' me." 

He slapped her arm. 

"Ow!" She pouted and slapped him back. 

"Fine." He did it again. 

"Ow!" Kaylee glared. "Cap'n! Jayne hit me!" 

"You don't stop it right now an' I'm gonna hit both of you!" The small, tinny voice sounded through the ear piece in her hand. "Now, bi zuie and let me make this contact." 

"You don't gotta be so grumpy." She sulked. "You big meanie." 

"Yeah Mal." Jayne's eyes gleamed as they both tried not to laugh. "Lighten up a bit." 

"Lighten...? I'm stuck out here without my first mate 'cause she's gotta go back to the ship and clean up." He'd started his rant now and they rolled their eyes at each other. "I been listenin' to you squabblin' like kids for the better part of an hour an' if you make me miss this deal 'cause you can't behave I'm gonna..." 

"Excuse me?" A second voice came through. "You Malcolm Reynolds? 'Cause I could come back if you need some time..." 

Kaylee looked at Jayne and they both burst out laughing. 

* * *

Prompt 089: Soul.  
Words: 521. 

**ONLYIFYOUWANNA.**

Ai ya, but he was a stupid fool. Jayne wondered how he had ever thought leaving the ship and leaving this girl was the best thing to do. Musta been feverish in the head, yeah, that was it. 

"C'mere, you." 

He hooked his finger into the empty belt loop of her coverall and dragged her closer to him. Her body bent slightly, hip first, feet and head following after as she let herself be backed against the wall. 

"Mm." Her response, a soft, thick sound coming honey sweet from her throat, made him shiver. "G'night." 

There weren't no way in the 'Verse he could stop himself from leaning down to kiss those lips, to feel her breath slide out over his, to feel her mouth part open and suck him in. 

"So, um...?" He let his eyes drift from her face to the colored plaque of her door. "You wanna, maybe...?" 

"Mm?" Her face grew red and her eyes lit up, like she knew what he was gonna ask, but wanted to tease him with it first. 

"You wanna...?" He breathed in and let it out in one long gasp. "Maybecomeintomybunktonightbutonlyifyouwanna?" 

She blinked. 

"Jayne." Her lips curled up, but her eyebrows lowered. "I been waitin' days for you to ask me that." 

"Yeah?" 

God, it was like she was tellin' him off, but she could even make that sound sexy. He wasn't sure how they made it into his bunk and closed the door, but they did. 

"Kaylee?" The way she turned to look at him, mouth all breathless and open, waiting for him and her eyes questioning, it made him want to do it properly. "I just, I wanted to say I was sorry." 

"You don't." A frown teased the edges of her mouth. "You don't gotta say that, Jayne. There ain't nothin' for you to be sorry about." 

"Yeah, there is." His hands twisted into themselves to stop them reaching out to her. "I acted like a dick an' you didn't deserve that. You didn't do nothin' to make me angry like I got." 

"It's okay." Her eyes got all shiny wet and gorram, but he hadn't wanted that. "You don't have to..." 

"But maybe I should." He insisted. "I trust you, Kaylee, I believe everythin' you say, don't ever think I don't. An' I know you didn't want any of that to happen an' I'm sorry for makin' you feel bad about Simon an' about what happened after." 

"Shh." She stood up on her tiptoes to place a kiss on his lips, all button mouth and chaste. "I know. Okay? I know." 

He could feel it in the way she held on to him, hands on the side of his chest, fingers curving around his ribs and resting there. In the way she rocked forward on the balls of her feet so that her whole body leaned in toward him. In the way that her eyes looked up at him like there weren't nothin' else to look at. 

Gorram, but he was a stupid sonuvabitch and despite his seemingly best efforts to the contrary, she was still here. 

* * *

Prompt 090: Food.  
Words: 484. 

**BREAKFAST.**

"It's on the ceiling." 

Jayne smiled, he couldn't help it, smiled down at the woman in his arms and ran a hand over her hair, sweeping stray strands of it behind her ears and off her face. 

"What?" He whispered it low, mouth so close to her ear he could bite it if he wanted. "What's up there?" 

Her eyelids crinkled. 

"You know." She twisted, rolling over so that she was facing him. "You're not listening." 

He'd watched her for a long time, he wasn't too proud to admit it, had kept an eye on her long before the doc ever came aboard. He'd thought he knew most, if not all, the things to know about her. But he never would've picked her for talking in her sleep. 

"'Course, I'm listening." He answered. "Look, there it is. Right up there." 

Wasn't just talking, either. Girl had full conversations with him sometimes. 'Course, she never remembered them when she woke up and that was a whole different sorta fun. 'Cause sometimes she got downright argumentative in her sleep and left him all ornery and grumpy and she'd wake up cheerful as ever. 

She obviously didn't feel like arguing, just a soft rambling about something in the ceiling panel and, if he guessed right, it'd probably turn out to be some kind of machinery she had in the back of her mind that needed checking. 

"You know I don't like beef stock." 

Then again, sometimes she didn't make any sense that he could find. And it just made him love her more. 

"Kaylee." He made his voice a little louder. "Kaylee?" 

Her face crumpled and he wanted to kiss it all over, but that would lead to a whole different set of distractions. His stomach clenched firmly against that idea. 

"C'mon." He gave her a small squeeze and blew air across her nose. "Time to get up. I'm hungry." 

"Mm." Her whole body tightened and then lengthened out in a stretch and her face smoothed out. "No." 

She was definitely awake. 

"No?" He frowned. "What do you mean, no?" 

It wasn't like Kaylee to miss meals. 

"Not hungry." She murmured as she nestled in closer to him. "Let's stay here." 

"Man's gotta eat, Kaylee." 'Course, said man also wasn't against the warm body rippling against his, or the hand that drew lazy circles against his belly. "So do you. Let's get breakfast while it's still there to get." 

The small, lazy grin on her face told him he was losing this argument fast. 

"There'll be food later." 

"Yeah, but..." He couldn't stop the whine entering his voice. "I'm hungry now." 

"Jayne." A long, slow drawl. She still hadn't opened her eyes and he knew the moment she did he'd be lost. "So am I." 

"Then let's..." Her hands gripped his sides and rolled him onto his back so she could drape herself all over him. "Oh." 

* * *

Prompt 091: Visions.  
Words: 654. 

**QUESTIONS.**

"Hey Cap'n." 

She found him sitting alone on the bridge, feet propped up on the console, staring out into the black. Wasn't often that he was here by himself, or that she caught him when he was. Not anymore. She took her place in the copilot's chair. 

"You not sleeping, Kaylee?" 

The tone of his voice was enough to clue her into the fact her was asking generally and not actually looking for specific details about her sleeping arrangements. 

"Just thinkin' some, is all." 

She felt his gaze, slow and piercing. 

"Things still tetchy 'tween you and Jayne?" He sat up a bit straighter. "'Cause I swear, he can be dense sometimes, but..." 

"We're fine." She smiled and reached out to trail a hand over the controls in front of her. "I just been thinkin' about Serenity and all of us on her, how we got here and..." 

"Oh." Just a hint of amusement in his voice, mixed in with the concern. "Just the small things, then?" 

She nodded slowly. 

"Yeah." He was frowning when she finally looked over at him. "What made you hire us?" 

"You and Jayne?" 

She shook her head. 

"Everyone." 

"'Cause you were meant to be here." He answered simply, sounding certain of it. "I needed a crew. Wasn't ever gonna go anywhere without Zoe. Wash could fly the ship. You could fix her. You were all good, the best." 

She couldn't help but wonder if he was being deliberately vague. 

"And Jayne?" 

"He's good, too." A small glint in his eye as he acknowledged his slight. "Only ever regretted hiring him a time or two. Man's gotten us out of more'n one jam I figured there was no way out of. Mighty fine tracker and the meanest sumbitch out there, which helps when we need it. He can be dumb as dog shit, sometimes, but he's still the best merc for the job." 

That was more like it. 

"You think he...?" 

She didn't finish the question, didn't really know how, and let her hands fumble with Serenity's dials instead. 

"Anyone ask me that a year ago an' I would've laughed them out of the sky." He answered her anyway. "But now, with you? I think yes." 

Kaylee rolled her neck, feeling the bones crack in release, then rested it on the back of the chair. 

"What's gonna happen?" If he knew that, she wouldn't ever argue another thing with him again. "You think? Me an' Jayne, down the road?" 

There was quiet and she counted the thud of her pulse in her ear drum. 

"Can't rightly answer you there, mei mei." He almost sounded sad for it. "There ain't no one knows for sure and that's half the fun." 

"But you got us." She insisted stubbornly, allowing herself a yawn. "You musta known something when you put all of us together." 

"Sometimes things happen, sometimes you just gotta let them happen." He stood up, pulling a blanket from the storage locker and settling it around her shoulders. "I might not be able to give you pretty visions of the future, but I can tell you about the now." 

"Yeah?" 

She blinked up at him, letting herself melt into the warmth around her. 

"Jayne's a simple man and once he decides to do something, there ain't nothing gonna stop him doing it. Right now, he's set his mind on you and god help anyone who gets in his way." 

"You got an answer for everything, doncha?" 

"'Course I do." He grinned as he sat back down. "I know everything. That's why I'm the Captain. That's why I got me the best crew there is." 

"Maybe." She snuggled close, pulling the blanket all around her. "Still doesn't explain why you hired Bester." 

Mal laughed out loud, a quick gun fire burst of surprise. 

"No. No, it doesn't. Let's just say I was drunk." 

Kaylee nodded in agreement. 

"He was pretty though." 

* * *

Prompt 092: Earth.  
Words: 997. 

**WOMENS' EYES.**

Jayne ran his hand down the length of the barrel, the roughened pads of his fingers tuned to feel any nicks or abnormalities. There wasn't, of course there wasn't, not on his weaponry. 

"I ain't interested." 

He could feel her eyes boring into him, had felt it for a good ten minutes already. Not that his words mattered, he knew it, could feel it in the prickles rising on his skin. 

There were different kinds of prickles and hair raising and he could identify all of them. There was the Reavers Are Gonna Eat Me twisting of his stomach, the River's Watching Me and I Don't Like It Any skin crawling and the Somebody's Got A Weapon Trained On Me itch. Which led to the I've Just Done Something Stupid and Mal's About to Have A Weapon Trained On Me itch and the I've Just Done Something Worse and Forget Mal 'Cause Kaylee's Gonna Tear Off My Balls sinking thud. 

But this, this was worse than any of those and he'd gotten real good at recognizing it over the last few months. 

It was the I've Got Something To Say And You're Damn Well Gonna Listen 'Cause I'm A Woman and I Can Make Your Life Hell If You Don't eye burn. 

"You hear me?" He tried once more, 'cause it was worth the effort. "You all've been talkin' my ear off and I heard it already." 

"Jayne." 

Gorram it, but she wasn't gonna let up, was she? And he couldn't say no to that, the soft, warm voice or her steady, dark eyes. Damn but Kaylee was making him weak to a woman's eyes. 

"Not you." He sighed. "C'mon Zo, we got a job to do." 

"Job's not going anywhere." She nodded her head to the side, gesturing to the bar where Mal was ordering drinks and chatting up the contact. "I promise it won't hurt." 

"Fine." He laid his gun on the table and looked up at her. "What've I done wrong now?" 

"Nothing that I know of." The smile that edged her mouth and eyes was amused. "You know what you're doing?" 

He didn't even bother pretending not to know. 

"Not in the slightest." He watched her cock her head to the side, considering him. "Zoe, I ain't never had this before. I don't wanna ruin it none by thinkin' too hard on it." 

"She was asking about you, you know." He must've looked confused, because she answered his question before he even asked it. "She was asking Mal what he thought about you and her in the long term." 

He swallowed, couldn't help himself. 

"There ain't no long term." If only she wouldn't look at him like that. "You know it an' I know it. How long you reckon we got out here? Damn lucky to be where we are now." 

Didn't this woman ever blink? What the hell was taking Mal so long? 

"I don't know." He said eventually. "Okay? That what you wanna hear? I got it better now than I ever remember having it an' I don't ever see myself giving it up." 

"Have you told her that?" 

"'Course I have." He frowned. "I s'pose I have. I guess. Maybe not exactly like that, but she knows. Has to know, don't she?" 

"Does she?" But she didn't wait for any answer. "I bet Kaylee had a big family growing up. Brothers that got married young. Sisters that got married even younger. Probably a dog. I guarantee you she was always sure of solid ground under her feet." 

"What's your point?" 

"She might be having fun now, but how long do you think she's going to be happy slipping between bunks from night to night?" Her eyes were still watching him, steady and unflinching, but not unkind. "She's not built like us, Jayne, she's going to want security sooner or later." 

"Bull shit." He had to stop her there. "Maybe back home all the girls are married by twelve and have eight kids latched to the breast by fifteen and gray hair by twenty, but Kaylee ain't like that." 

"It doesn't hurt." Zoe's voice was so soft, it was almost a whisper, like yearning. "It doesn't hurt to give her what she wants." 

"She wanted that, she could've just stayed where she was, latched herself onto any man there who'd smile her way an' I know they were there." His mouth was dry and he really wanted the drink Mal was takin' his sweet ass time bringing back. "But she didn't. She chose to come aboard 'cause she wanted to get away from that. Hell, she wanted to go back, she could do it any time. But she don't. Ain't no one holding her back." 

Zoe rested her elbows on the table, bringing her hands in under her chin and kept her gorram eyes boring into him. And, dammit, her eyes had gone all thoughtful. 

"Kaylee likes those little oatmeal cookies, doesn't she?" 

"What?" Jayne spared a look at the bar and glared daggers into Mal's back as the man laughed with the contact. "What are you goin' on about now? Yeah, she likes 'em." 

"What did she do with the very last one last night?" 

"Huh?" He thought for a moment. "She gave it to River." 

"When she wanted it?" 

He shrugged. 

"I guess." 

"'She gave away something she wanted to make someone else happy?" And there, she was smiling again. "Sounds like something she'd do." 

He sank back in his chair, leaned his head back and closed his eyes. 

"You told me this wasn't gonna be painful." He gave a soft groan. "You lied." 

A small clinking of glass sounded and he cracked his lids open. 

"Well, that was easier than I thought it'd be!" 

Jayne glared at Mal's happy face. 

"Next time don't take so gorram long!" 

"What?" Jayne ignored Mal as he grabbed the cup from the tray. "Did I miss something, Zoe?" 

"Not a thing, Sir." 

* * *

Prompt 093: Regret.  
Words: 736. 

**WHAT'S IN A NAME?**

She giggled and draped her arms over his shoulders, resting her chin in the crook of his neck and letting her lips taste the salt on his skin briefly. Her chest pushed into his back and she let him take her whole weight. 

"I'm tellin' you, Kaylee." He leaned forward to give her more room behind him. "We gotta go hide before Serenity comes to life an' starts up with us." 

"My ship don't give advice." She purred low into his ear. "She's happy as it is." 

"Yeah, well." She could feel the cords in his neck shift with her. "Everyone else sees fit to ram it down our throats. Wouldn't surprise me if next time we got mail, Ma's packaged herself up in a box just so's she can yell at me." 

Kaylee paused as she ran her hand down the front of his chest, under his shirt. 

"You tell your Ma about me?" 

He laughed at her, a low chuckle as he turned his head away from the heavy game of cards he had splayed out all over the table in the mess, turned his head so he could give her cheek a swift, messy kiss. 

"Hell yeah." And another, mouth sucking on the curve of her jaw. "First time in a long time I'm doin' something she can be proud of." 

She had to laugh at his words. 

"You tell your Ma about that?!?" He brought his hand up to swipe at her shoulder. "And she's proud? That's all kinds'a weird." 

She was too busy playing with the hairs on his chest, feeling the deep rumble of his laugh as they pushed back and forth against each other, too busy to notice much around her. But she felt Jayne go all still and knew what she'd see when she looked up. 

Simon standing in the doorway, face gone pale. 

"Sorry." He stammered out as he gave a quick look around the empty room, nobody in the mess or the kitchen but the two of them, and then looked directly at the floor. "I'm just... going... back..." 

He backed out of the door and the space he left behind was engulfing. 

"Jayne." She said it like a sigh as she slid down and away from him. 

"What?" He was being deliberately obtuse, she could tell in the way his voice hardened. 

"He still feels rotten." 

"And?" Flip. A card snapped over onto the deck. "Nothin' I can do about it." 

"You could try an' be nice." She pouted, not that it would do any good if he wouldn't look up at her. "You haven't said one decent word to him since..." 

And then she left the words hanging, didn't need to finish the sentence. 

"I ain't got no decent words for him." Flip. Pause. Flip. "An' he don't want the ones I do got." 

"It wasn't his fault." She insisted gently. "He didn't do nothin' wrong, not really." 

"He didn't help, none, either." Jayne insisted right back. 

They glared at each other for a bit. 

"I don't get you, sometimes, Kaylee." Jayne gave in first. "A man could shoot you an' you'd gladly hand him more bullets if he asked you for 'em so he could finish the job." 

She really should find it harder to say what she meant, she really should, but somehow she always found herself just opening her mouth and telling Jayne exactly what she was thinking. 

"I can't do it." Just. Like. That. "I can't be happy with you, knowin' it came at the price of him bein' so unhappy. It's not fair." 

His eyes were so blue, she could give him anything he asked for, she knew it. God help her if he ever figured it out, too, 'cause he was ruthless and he wouldn't ever hesitate to use that to his advantage. 

And right then, his eyes were narrowing to look into hers, as if he was trying to read something. She watched them soften a little. 

"Okay." She didn't even know she'd been holding her breath until it fell out, a deep gust of air at his sigh. "I'll try. Will that make you happy?" 

"Yes." She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. "You always make me happy." 

"What?" He gave her a sidelong glance. "I can't even finish my solitaire now?" 

"Patience." She kissed along his jaw and up to his ear. "It's called patience." 

* * *

Prompt 094: Chains.  
Words: 723. 

**CHAINS.**

He could feel it in his bones, scratching up and down his insides and along his skin. They were in what was supposed to be a friendly bar, well, as friendly as these places got to them. Safe, at least, most people knew them or of them and left them alone. 

Didn't explain one whit the feeling Jayne had been getting. 

"I think we're bein' watched." 

He leaned into the middle of the table, bringing his cup up to his lips to hide the whisper from onlookers. They all looked at him for a second, a whole second of Mal and Zoe grinning, Inara and River smiling at each other like they had a secret and Simon just raising his eyebrows. And Kaylee's soft hand inching up his side. 

Then they all burst out laughing. 

"'Course we're bein' watched, you idiot." Mal hadn't ever been one to mince words. "We've been watched for the better part of an hour." 

"What?" 

"You have a fan club." Zoe gestured to the bar. "Or, at least, what used to be..." 

Huh. How Jayne had missed it, he couldn't tell. He'd been scanning the crowd for anyone that looked menacing, or even slightly shady, enough to give him the creeps, but there hadn't been anyone. Yet, there they were, a group of 'em, all standing there, starin' at him and glarin' poison right through their eyes. 

"They look kinda angry." He shrugged. "Don't know why. They've always been nice before." 

More laughter. 

"'Course they're angry." Kaylee snuggled up closer to him. "They ain't gettin' paid." 

"You've probably caused a great economic slump in the last few months, Jayne." Inara teased. 

"Huh?" 

"The whores heard Serenity had landed." River told him simply. "They were looking for large amounts of coin and above average sex." 

"Oh god." Mal covered his ears. "I'm not aimin' to hear that." 

"I didn't hear anything." Simon raised his glass to his lips. "Not a thing. The last few minutes are a blank to me." 

"Well." Kaylee giggled against him. "They wouldn't be wrong." 

"That's it." Mal glared. "No more talking, dong ma? No more talking on my ship." 

"We ain't on your ship." Jayne supplied, helpfully. "Not now, anyways." 

"Don't worry, Mal." Inara told him sweetly. "We promise not to talk about, mention, or even hint at Jayne's sexual proclivities." 

"Or reported stamina." Zoe added. 

"Okay, you're fired." Mal glared at her. "You're all fired, I need a new crew." 

"But we were agreeing with you, Cap'n!" Kaylee smiled. "It's not our fault Jayne's good in bed." 

"Hell yeah." Jayne drained the last of his ale, then slammed the cup on the table. "Who needs more? I'm buyin'." 

"You're what?" Mal's mouth gaped even further. "Did he just say he was paying for the next round? In that case, maybe I'll start agreeing with the lot of you." 

He grinned as he made his way to the bar, going over the conversation in his head. Didn't take long and he wasn't there alone. It never took long. 

"Didn't think you'd ever be the one to settle down, Jayne Cobb." 

"That so?" 

He nodded politely to someone he vaguely recalled as using the name Sapphire. A name he remembered, specifically 'cause she hadn't had anything blue about her, not even her eyes. Stupid, really. 

"You just didn't seem the type." His arm itched as her hand ran up his skin, he could feel it. "You know, to be chained down and all." 

He drew his arm back and glared at the barman to hurry up, then turned back to the table to see them all laughing still. Kaylee was leaning in close to River, her face all happy and breathless in her giggle. 

"Yeah, well, some chains are better than others." 

"You sure about that? 'Cause you look real tense." He could smell the cheap perfume she wore as she leaned in close, it got up into his nostrils and stayed there. "You sure there ain't nothin' I can do to make you feel better?" 

His fingers closed in around the small bag he kept his coins in. It wasn't as full as he generally liked, but it was heavier than it'd been for a long time. 

"Then again." Jayne turned to eye her up and down. "Maybe there is somethin' you could do." 

* * *

Prompt 095: Red.  
Words: 864. 

**SUSPENSE.**

"Jayne." He could feel Kaylee giggling through his lips, attached firmly to her throat. "Now they're gonna think we're havin' sex all night, the way you pulled me outta that bar and up into this room." 

He brought his face up so he could look her in the eye. 

"Well, ain't we?" 

"Maybe." She purred as he reached under her arm to lock the door behind her. "If you play your cards right." 

He had to chuckle as he kissed her chin, closing his lips around the curve of it as his hands came up to rest on either side of her face. 

"First, ain't nothin' wrong with the way I play my cards." He captured her bottom lip between his teeth and stretched it out, just a little, then let it go. "Second, I ain't plannin' on playin' cards." 

"You're a cocky hundan." She sighed. "You know it?" 

"Yeah." Wasn't one thing he could say to argue with that. "But I got reason to be. I got a surprise for you." 

"Really?" Her eyes lit up, just like that, all sparkle and glow. "What?" 

He chuckled again. 

"Don't know if you've looked up the word 'surprise' lately, but I don't think they've changed it from when I was little. Close your eyes." 

"Fine." She pouted. "But if I don't like it, you owe me, Mr. Cobb." 

"Oh." He ducked his knees to lay an open mouthed, wet kiss along her collar bone as his hands lifted the hem of her shirt. "I know you're gonna like this." 

Kaylee lifted her arms up and allowed him to take the shirt off, drop it to the side and leave it there, forgotten. 

"You takin' off my clothes ain't any kind of surprise, Jayne." 

"Guess not." He breathed it into her ear as he leant forward, reached around her back to unhook her bra. His whole body covered hers and she fit into the shell of him so easily. "Keep 'em closed anyway." 

She shivered as he blew over her neck, leaving a small trail of gooseflesh over her shoulder and down to the rise of her breasts. He watched her nipples harden and felt a gust of shaky air leave her lips and blow over his hair. 

Hooking his finger into the top of her pants, he pulled her forward, leading her around the few bits of furniture. 

"Where're you takin' me?" She frowned, but followed him. "This room ain't that big. There's nothin' here but the bed an' I'm still not surprised." 

"Maybe you should stop yappin' then." Couldn't help but grin as her eyebrows knitted together. "An' I can get this thing underway." 

"What thing?" 

He looked over his shoulder into the corner of the room. Everything was exactly as he'd asked it to be. Girls might not've been too happy about the loss of coin, but they were good sorts. Always had been. It didn't take long for his fingers to unsnap her pants and let them fall to the floor. 

"Here." He ran a hand over her shoulder and down her arm. "You can get yourself outta your panty under thing..." 

Kaylee giggled as his words trailed off, she twisted herself around, pulling them down and off. All the while she kept her eyes squinched shut and he wanted to kiss her face all over. God, she was beautiful. 

"Now what?" She stood there, completely naked, her eyes closed. It took his breath away how much she trusted him. "You just gonna stand there watchin' me in the buff?" 

"Well, that ain't no hard thing, babygirl." He ran a roughened hand over the soft skin of her belly, around her hip and over the swell of her backside. "But this thing isn't gonna wait." 

"What thing?" He could hear the frustration bubble up. "Jayne?" 

She whimpered in the back of her throat, husk and need and it almost made him want to forget the whole thing and just take her where she stood, then and there. Instead, he hooked his fingers around her thigh and lifted it up. 

"You sure got a funny way of not sexin' a girl up." 

He shifted her leg to the side and slowly lowered it. 

"Jayne!" Her hands immediately gripped his shoulders and she adjusted her stance, shifting her weight and letting him lift the other leg. "What'd you do? We can't afford..." 

"Shh." He gently lifted her hands from him and helped lower her all the way down. "Don't go spoilin' nothin'." 

Her face glowed in the steam as she lay back in the water and he watched the heat of it turn her skin a brilliant red as she smiled a lazy smile. 

"Oh." That there moan was worth the extra coin he'd plunked down for it. "This is nice." 

"Yeah." The water stung his hand when he reached into it, the heat seeping all the way through his flesh to the bones. "So just you lay back an' enjoy it." 

He squeezed the cloth out, watching the trickle of water, then ran it over her shoulder and along her neck. Her skin paled white under the pressure, then flooded with color again. 

* * *

Prompt 096: Sky.  
Words: 492. 

**SLEPT IN.**

"C'mon Jayne!" Kaylee grabbed his hand and tugged him along the street. "We gotta get back!" 

"We're gettin' back." She heard him growl behind her. "Why're you in such a rush? You got ants in your pants?" 

"We slept in." 

Which was the nice way to put it. After he'd bathed her, makin' her body all liquid and leeched with heat, Jayne'd practically had to carry her to the bed. It'd been all his fault, the way he'd slowly dragged that cloth over her skin, following it with his mouth, blowin' cold air after the heat. It was like he'd drugged her, stealin' away any hope she'd had of moving. 

Then again, once they'd gotten back to the bed, she'd found enough energy to keep moving. More than enough as his hands had woken her up, sent sparks through her skin, little jolts to the her heat loosened muscles. 

They'd stayed up half the night, earning the gossip that no doubt made its way all over the cargo bay, bridge and around Serenity, thrown about by everyone on board. It hadn't been the easiest thing she'd ever done, getting up and getting dressed enough to head back. 

Jayne's answering chuckle told her he was thinking the same thing. 

"S'at what you call it?" 

Then after they'd worked their way up to awake and dressed, they'd gotten to earning the cost of the room all over again. And then some. 

"C'mon." She urged again. "We don't get back soon, Cap'n's gonna skin us both." 

"Reckon he already knows what's goin' on." His hand tightened around hers and she felt them both slowing down. "Man ain't a fool." 

"Jayne." She sighed it, hated to let impatience temper their good mood. "Look up." 

She could feel the slack loosening of his reluctance and knew he'd seen it. They continued walking back to the docking bay, maybe a little faster than they had been before. It always amazed her how different the streets of a planet could look by day. 

Kaylee had barely noticed how far they'd walked from Serenity, the seven of them talkin' an' jokin' along, an' her barely noticing the glow and flitter of all the lights, the clubs and the people buzzing about, everything all close and bleeding into each other. Everything seemed stripped back in the light. 

Separate and isolated. 

"C'mon." It was Jayne's turn to urge her along. "I ain't lookin' for Mal to throw us both off." 

His hand came around her waist and she let him guide them both faster towards Serenity, fitting into his side and the two of them moving in synch. 

Above them, dark clouds boiled and threatened to roll over, covering the entire town with shadows. They had a job lined up two quadrants over, Inara had a client booked, if they got landlocked during a storm, because Jayne and Kaylee couldn't keep out of each others' pants, then there'd be hell to pay. 

* * *

Prompt 097: Water.  
Words: 479. 

**WORRY.**

"You gonna eat that?" 

Kaylee nudged her food around the plate a little, pushing it from one side to the other, then passed it over to Jayne. She felt his eyes on her and it prickled. 

"You alright?" He asked. 

"Yeah." His eyes weren't the only ones as she screwed her nose up. "It taste funny to anyone else?" 

"Tastes fine to me." Mal added from the head of the table. "Same as always." 

"Maybe." 

"Well." Jayne glowered. "You can't not eat. You gotta have something." 

"I will. Soon, maybe." She sighed. "I guess I'm not that hungry." 

"You didn't get too wet in the rain before?" 

Mal's question made them all look up, made Simon's eyes narrow as he scanned her up and down. She could tell they all remembered the last time she got sick and normally she'd be glad that they all cared so much, but for some reason, right then, it just felt like there were too many eyes and too many people watching over her. 

She frowned as she shifted out of Inara's hand coming to rest on her forehead. 

"I'm fine." 

It hadn't been that bad for a while, she thought they'd gotten past that. If they were gonna start harping on it again, watching every move she made, she was going to lose her mind. She knew it. 

"You sure?" Jayne's eyes were the worst, sharp and worried, looking straight through her. "You been kinda weird all day." 

"I said I was fine." She insisted, feeling the words grate through her teeth. "Don't start this again." 

"Okay." He was quick to back off and she felt almost grateful for it. "Just, you know, at least drink something. Here, have some water." 

As she raised the glass to her mouth, Kaylee felt her nostrils twitch in protest. The metallic scent of it reached in and made her wince. She sniffed it again, then looked up at Zoe. 

"When you cooked tonight, you use this water?" 

"No, Kaylee." Mal rolled his eyes. "She used the freshwater fountain spring that sprung up in the kitchen. It's right over there by the frolicking nyphms." 

He stopped when she glared at him. 

"What's wrong?" Zoe reached out and sniffed at her own glass. "I can't smell anything." 

"Me neither." Simon added as they all tested their glasses. 

"Sensory overload." River shrugged. "Smell is subjective to each person..." 

"Somethin's wrong." Kaylee said, not waiting for them all to finish. "Maybe one of the pipes needs replacing, or the tank's rusted up or something." 

"There's no rust on my ship." Mal told her, half seriously. 

"Something ain't right." Kaylee stood up. "I'm gonna find out what. I'll be lookin' in tanks if you need me." 

"I didn't smell anything." She heard Inara say as she walked out the door. 

"Nobody smelled anything." Mal answered. "You sure she's alright, Jayne?" 

* * *

Prompt 098: Nurture.  
Words: 687. 

**DRILLING.**

"Kaylee?" 

She looked up from the table and blinked, her eyes were sore. She'd been sitting there for a good hour scribbling away at the pages in front of her. Sometimes it helped to sketch out engine parts, adding this or that, tryin' to figure out a way to make 'em better or stretch out what life they had left. It wasn't working much right then. 

"What's up, sweetie?" 

River smiled and held out her hand. 

"Can I borrow your pen?" 

"Soon." She smiled back. "I just gotta finish here, won't be long." 

"You won't need it." River said with a shrug. 

"Just a little bit longer." Kaylee frowned slightly and then yawned. "Unless you can tell me how to repipe the water tanks in mid space without floodin' the entire ship." 

"You won't need it." River repeated. "Jayne just went into your bunk with a power drill." 

"What?" Kaylee stood up, suddenly finding the energy she hadn't had five minutes before. She absently handed the pen to River. "He what...?" 

She heard River whisper a pleased thank you on her way out the door, but she didn't have the time to be annoyed at that. Not right then, anyways, 'cause the closer she got to her bunk, the louder the sound of drilling was. 

"Jayne!" She yelled it as she opened the door. "Jayne! What the hell are you doin'?" 

"Drillin'." Came the answer. 

"I know that." Kaylee jumped the last few steps down to the bunk and glared. "Why and what for are you drilling?" 

He was kneeling up on her bed, eye mask on, hands holding the drill up to the wall. She pretended not to see the little curling bits of metal spiking out of her blankets, the silver shavings scattered over her pillow. Instead, she eyed the scattered remains of her room. 

All the little dried flowers she'd collected, a Chinese fan, pictures she'd taped to the wall, the string of lights, everything with color that she'd slowly and diligently stored up to brighten the dingy blankness of the room. They sat discarded all over her floor. 

"'Cause." He shrugged. "Gotta put Vera somewhere when I move in, don't I?" 

She blinked. 

"What?" And blinked again. The bastard winked at her. "You're what?" 

"And I ain't gonna sleep in here without a proper place for my ladies, you know that." 

"But what?" 

"Careful." He grinned again as he lifted the eye mask with one hand. "You're startin' to sound a mite unintelligent there. An' that's my job." 

"But wha...?" Then she caught herself, blushing as she did it. "You said you were movin' in?" 

"Yup." Then he snapped the mask back in place. "So's you better think about packin' away some of your girly things. Not all, mind, but enough to give me some room." 

"You really wanna?" 

He shrugged as he lifted the drill back up to the wall. 

"Just said so didn't I?" And maybe he was acting like he didn't care one little bit, but Kaylee could see the tight way he kept hold of his mouth so it didn't grin, the way his neck flushed dark. "Figured there weren't no use both of us playin' musical bunks night after night." 

She couldn't help herself, she rushed over to him, wrapping her arms around his waist and kissing the back of her neck. 

"You're the sweetest man alive, Jayne Cobb." 

"Hey now." He twisted his head to look at her, eyes looking huge in the mask. "You start that an' this won't be finished in time for us to sleep tonight." 

"I gotta go tell everyone!" She bounced on her toes. 

"You keep shoutin' an' they'll figure it out soon enough." 

"Grump." She kissed him again. "I'm gonna go tell 'em, anyway." 

By the time Kaylee reached the top of her... their... she grinned at the thought, ladder, she blushed deeply. Jayne was right, they were all gonna figure it out sooner rather than later. It was inevitable. 

On her nameplate, in quickly drying ink, someone had scribbled "Jayne and" above her name. 

"I want my pen back, River!" 

* * *

Prompt 099: Absolution.  
Words: 931. 

**THE OFFER.**

"I was looking for you." 

Kaylee's reaction to the voice was automatic, she looked up so fast that she didn't even have time to think about the ramifications of it. Her head hit the metal above her with a dull thud and she groaned as she closed her eyes to gather her thoughts. 

"I have to say, I never thought to look in the second shuttle." 

"Simon." She quickly inched her way out of the small crawl space so she could stand up, she felt the distinct need to be upright when she talked to him. "River's on the bridge, waitin' for everyone else to get back." 

"I know." He looked shy and she was reminded of the first few months after he'd first come aboard. "I wanted to talk to you in private." 

"That ain't..." She paused, feeling uncomfortable and awkward and hating every second of it. "Why?" 

"There needs to be a reason now?" 

"Don't?" She couldn't stand it, couldn't stand the egg shells and the mine fields and the small hidden cracks that were going to split everyone apart. "Okay? I don't wanna start this again, I don't wanna fight, I don't wanna rehash any of it." 

"Neither do I." There was so much space between them, her standing just above the open hatch and him standing just inside the door, looking like he was ready to run. "That's why I'm here. I've been thinking, trying to come up with a way to make it up to you, to both of you." 

"There's nothin' to make up." She looked down at the wrench in her hand then back up at him. "I keep tellin' you that." 

"Have you told Jayne?" It wasn't angry or snide or demeaning, she could still read his voice and he was honestly interested in her answer. "I'm not sure he sees it the same way you do." 

"Then why don't you talk to him?" She had to put the wrench down, or she was gonna twist the shape right off it and make it useless. "Why couldn't you wait to talk to both of us?" 

"To be honest?" He tried to smile and she gave him points for it. "I'm not sure if he'd take kindly to that, not yet anyway." 

"He's trying." She frowned. "He's been real decent to you." 

"I know. And I'm grateful for that." The way he nodded then told her that he knew just why Jayne was trying so hard. "I just don't want to push that too hard, yet." 

They looked at each other, standing still, neither of them willing to make the first step forward or even away. No movement that could be misconstrued or taken as something it wasn't. Kaylee could feel the air close in around her chest. 

"Did you come up with something?" She just had to say something to fill in the gaps. 

"Sorry?" He blinked. 

"You said you were lookin' for something to make it up?" 

"Oh! Oh, yes." He paused and she waited, urging him with a look. "That is to say, no. I didn't come up with anything." 

"Huh?" Okay, all this tension was going to kill her. "Simon, sit down and just tell me what you wanted to say, before I beat it out of you." 

She went to heft the wrench at him and realized too late that she'd already put it down. It ended up looking like she was threatening him with a rather limp hand batting and it made him smile. 

"I thought I could get you a present." He sighed as he inched his way towards the seat. "But then River reminded me how inappropriate that might be." 

She scrunched her nose up in agreement. 

"A little." 

One step, she moved a little closer towards him. 

"Then I thought, perhaps, I could offer Jayne something. He was looking for something special to give you and I don't have much, but I did manage to salvage one or two valuable items that I was saving for... I don't know, River maybe, or something special." 

"He wouldn't want it from you." Kaylee couldn't be anything but brutally honest. "He wouldn't want to give me anything knowin' it came from you." 

"Hence the trashing of that plan." He acknowledged the truth of it. "There's not much I have here, on board this ship or anywhere really, that would help. So, after much deliberation, I finally came to a decision." 

"And?" 

"And the best thing I can do for the two of you is nothing." He looked at her, straight at her, and she saw the offer in his eyes. "Nothing I do or say will help, nothing I can give will make it better. The only thing I can possibly offer is space and time and hope that one day things will get better between us." 

Kaylee looked at him, looked hard, and remembered all the times in that first year when she was chasing after him. She'd tried so hard she'd lost sight of a person who had been slowly and softly trying to win her over. 

Jayne had seen she wanted Simon and he'd stepped back, had stood back and, apart from a few jokes and teasing, had given her the space to do what she wanted without putting any pressure on her. He'd hurt hard in that year, she knew it now, but he hadn't once said anything to let her know it, had kept it hidden well. 

He'd been the bigger man over all. 

And it looked like Simon was finally realizing that. 

* * *

Prompt 100: Clarity.  
Words: 865. 

**COUNTING.**

"Aw, c'mon." He could hear the whine in his voice and it made him edgier than he already was. "Everyone else's going." 

"I said no, Jayne." She sighed as she looked at him and he saw something in the back of her eyes, a weariness that he'd never really seen in her before. "I don't feel like it." 

"You had fun the other week." A grin passed over his features. "Hell, we both had fun. An' we ain't gonna be doing much, just havin' a drink or two." 

Kaylee glared at him across the bunk. 

"I'm not stopping you. You wanna go, you can go." 

"No." He heaved a big sigh. "I ain't brave enough to go out drinkin' without you." 

"What?" 

"Reckon they'd all kill me." He didn't see any change in her expression, but he could feel the energy in the air crackle and he rushed to fix whatever he'd just done. "Mal an' Inara an' Zoe, especially, reckon they'd hang up my gonads to dry I go out a free man. Hell, it were up to them, I'd just be some other whipped man lookin' for a preacher an' a ring." 

Nope. He knew the instant he said it that it'd been the exact wrong thing to say. He didn't even need the way she narrowed her eyes, or the way her face got all sharp, or even the way her teeth bit into her bottom lip. 

She looked angry, but worse than that, she looked hurt. 

"I ain't holdin' you back, Jayne." She gestured at the ladder. "You wanna go? Just go. Since when do you care what they all think? You've done nothin' but complain Inara told you this an' Mal told you should do that an' Zoe said the other." 

There was a tear in the corner of her eye. 

"You ever ask once what I actually wanted? You ask me?" She shook her head, answering her own question. "I ain't the one tellin' you all this stuff. You're the one moved your stuff into my bunk, you're the one said you wanted it all like this." 

"Kaylee..." 

She stopped him with a glare, her face screwing up on itself and he knew she was close to tears. 

"Go, Jayne! Just go out, find yourself a whore just to prove you ain't whipped, I don't care!" 

"What the hell?" He couldn't help it, couldn't help rising to the bait. "What's the matter with you, woman? You been actin' weird all week." 

She turned away from him and he tried to put his arm around her shoulders, but she twisted away from him, going to the other end of the bunk and began rifling through another of the boxes she'd packed up to take out. 

Jayne stood there, breathing, trying to figure out what had just happened. 

"I don't know what the gorram hell you been drinkin'." He said finally, watching her as she picked up a small square screen and frowned at it instead of tossing it to the side like she'd done with everything else. "But I don't wanna go out and find no whore. I don't wanna go out drinkin' if I can't go out on the arm of the prettiest woman I know." 

A pause, she didn't look back at him. 

"That's you, by the way." There, her shoulders hunched a little and he knew she'd tried to stop herself laughing. "This is how I want it, nobody but you an' me, here like this. I ain't ever gonna have it as good as I have it with you. So stop all this foolish worryin' about me an' what I want." 

"Jayne?" Her fingers trailed on the screen as it lit up. "When did we find that reaver attack on Kerry?" 

"What? Couple months back." He didn't even stop to think about her question. "Maybe I got turned around, listenin' to everybody else, but I think you got some wrong ideas, too. Bein' with you, Kaylee, it ain't no chore. I don't want it to end." 

"Shh, Jayne." She motioned back at him as her voice came out in a whisper. "I'm counting." 

"Well, ain't that the way?" He could feel it pulse up in him. "Here I am tryin' to tell you what I'm feelin' an' you're over there ignorin' me for some stupid calendar screen that's probably out of date by three years. You hear a word I been sayin'? I ain't goin' anywhere, so you better just get used to me bein' here." 

"Jayne." Then she did look up at him. "Shut up and come here." 

It took his breath away. 'Cause Jayne knew every side Kaylee had, he'd seen her lost in a fit of giggles, stony cold in anger, frozen with fear, so excited she could barely keep still, so happy she glowed. He could recognize each and every mood and voice she had. 

Or so he'd thought. 

He'd never seen this one. And it scared him to the bone. 

"What?" He could feel his throat close up as he put his hand around her waist and his chin on her shoulder to look at the screen. "Kaylee, what is it?" 

* * *

**THE END.**

* * *

***  
***  
***

Epilogue: Occurs approximately six years after prompt 100. 

**HEROES, DRAGONS, QUEENS and BROKEN MIRRORS.**

She crept along the gangway, staying as silent as she knew how to be, breathing shallow and slow through her slightly open mouth. She'd been trained by the best. Her bare feet slid over the cold metal. If she didn't lift them, there'd be no contact broken, which meant no contact would need to be made to step forward. 

A few minutes, a few harrowing and stressful minutes and then she'd reach relative safety. Until then, however, she was vulnerable, left out in the open. 

He reared above her, large and imposing, taking up all the space her eyes had. All was lost. And she'd been so close. 

"I been lookin' for you." 

"That's 'cause I've been hiding." She whispered, leaning in close to tell her secret. "Shh. They're monsters all over the Land of Cargo Bay." 

"Really?" He frowned, reaching out to pull her behind him and looking left to right, his eyes scanning the perilous lands below. "Best you climb on up then." 

His hand grabbed hers easily, big, rough fingers closing over her tiny little ones. Her feet scrambled for purchase on his thighs as she monkeyed her way up onto his back. Her arms had grown so long she could reach all the way around his neck. 

"There's safety in Planet Mess." She whispered. 

He chuckled. 

"Planet Mess, huh? Let me guess, it's safest to land near the town of Cookie Jar?" 

"You've read the bulletins, then?" She gasped dramatically, then kicked her feet into his sides as his hands anchored her thighs. "But we have to be quiet. Onwards!" 

"You're gettin' bossy, babygirl." 

Jessie grinned as she leaned into his back and gripped his neck, everything about her wrapped around him and she couldn't get enough. She felt his muscles shift as he surveyed the surrounding area. 

"Jayne!" The beast roared from somewhere below. "These crates aren't gonna load themselves!" 

"Quick Daddy!" Her grip tightened. "Before it catches us!" 

"Hold on, babygirl." 

And they were off, she ducked her head in close, laying her cheek between his shoulder blades, and held tight. With her eyes closed, she could imagine them running through forests and large, rocky mountains. 

"Don't think I didn't see you two..." 

"It's chasing us!" She squealed. "Hurry!" 

"There!" The beast huffed and puffed at the top of the stairs, smoke and fire streaming from its nostrils. "I've found you both! You know the rules, we work before we play." 

"Aw, he got me." She could feel the whole Universe dipping as he knelt down. "It's too late for me, but you run, go, save yourself." 

"No!" She cried out, making sure to sound horribly upset for the injustice done a Universe robbed of his bravery. "Daddy, no!" 

"I'm done for." He groaned as he keeled over, hand held to his chest. "Shuffled off to some slave trading ships where I'm worked to exhaustion..." 

"You might actually have to work for that to happen, Jayne." 

She glared at the beast as it reared and growled over the body of her fallen hero. 

"Vengeance will be mine." She declared. "I will hunt you down in farthest reaches of the 'Verse and curse your soul forever!" 

"What the gorram hell has she been reading now?" The beast asked. 

"She does not get her words from books." Jessie postured above the body, ignoring the fact that dead bodies don't shake with laughter. "She gets them from magical Princesses with magical powers." 

"River!" The beast roared. "What are you filling this child's head with?" 

"Too much of a coward to face me, hey?" She sneered. "Typical bully beast. Your time is not long for this life. I have..." 

Scrambling around in her pockets, Jessie found the perfect thing. 

"This sword!" She crowed, wielding a green pencil. "Face me and die!" 

The beast growled and turned his angry eyes on her. 

"You're forcing me into this." It told her, seriously. "You know that, don't you?" 

"Your threats don't scare me!" 

And she even managed to keep some of the squeal out of her voice as she began to back up, one step after the other. It was going to get her and, she realized too late, her sword was no match for the beast's cruel, underhanded ways. 

"No!" She gasped, dropping the pencil and backing away faster. "No, you're not allowed to tickle!" 

"Stop me!" It roared again, lunging at her, growing nineteen hands and arms that reached across lands to find her. "You're all alone and I eat little girls like you for breakfast." 

"Ah!" She twisted, trying desperately to escape its clutches as it poked at her sides, the two of them falling into a heap. "No. Stop it! That ain't fair." 

"Children." The voice sounded above them. 

"It's the magical Fairy Queen!" She gasped and reached out. "She'll save me!" 

"I'm a Queen now?" And Jessie swallowed. "Yesterday I was a hideous, ugly witch." 

"No, you're a Queen." She nodded, helpfully, a big smile on her face. "You're a beautiful, beautiful Queen whose forgiving nature is known throughout existence." 

"I wouldn't bet on that." The beast huffed and doubled his fiendish tickling efforts. 

"Help me, Queen 'Nara! Help me!" 

"Oh, alright then." The Queen held out her hand. "Here, hold on." 

Jessie panted and tried to recover from the beast's evil ways as she was pulled free. 

"Thank you, you're very mag.. mang... ma..." The problem with Auntie River was that she had so many big words. Too many big words and sometimes they were hard to remember and even when she did, she wasn't sure if she got the meaning right. Auntie River had confused her more often than not. "You're very nice." 

"My prey is escaping?" The beast frowned. "Well, fine then. Guess I'll have to go find something else for breakfast. All the food rations should do it. There'll be nothing but green spinach protein for the rest of the week." 

Jessie spun around, her hands planted firmly on her hip as she glared. 

"Aw, that ain't fair, Cap'n." 

It was a word, just a word, but it shattered the game around them. She could feel it in the silence that followed, in the way that the different magical objects drifted away, melted back into the landscape of a ship. In the way that Inara's hand hovered over her hair, but didn't touch it, the way that the figure in front of her was no longer a vicious beast out hunting. He was the ordinary Captain of their ordinary ship. 

The man lying on the floor wasn't a heroic dragon slayer, saving her from monsters, he was her daddy. And now he was gonna go do as the Captain said and she wouldn't see him for a very long time. Maybe not even until dinner and that was an hour away. 

At least. 

"I'm sorry!" She rushed to say it. "I didn't mean it!" 

"It's okay, sweetie, you didn't do anything." 

Inara smiled at her, but it wasn't one of her happy smiles that went all the way deep into her eyes. It was one of the fake ones. Then she turned and glared at Mal. Jessie was awful glad she'd never gotten that glare, Auntie Inara could be very scary when she looked like that. Well, never, not really, only that one time. 

But she hadn't mean to say that to her special guest that time. 

"Mal, tell the girl she didn't do anything." 

"'Course not, honeychild." And Mal was smiling, too, but his smiles were always different when he meant them. "You didn't do nothin'." 

He reached out and ran a hand through her hair, ruffling it. She was so sorry she didn't even pull away and she hated people ruffling her hair. Now they weren't playing. They were saying Nice Things that Grown Ups Said to Little Children. 

They'd been saying it for a long time and she was beginning to hate that as much as hands in her hair. Not that it mattered, because Mal had turned around and walked away and Auntie Inara followed him. She always did when he got that wounded look in his eye. 

Jessie was left to kneel down next to her daddy. He'd sat up, leaning his back against the railing, and his eyes watched her. She hated to see his eyes like that, hated it even more because she knew it was her fault. She crawled into the curve of his arm and he gripped her tight. 

"I'm sorry, daddy." She whispered it into his neck. 

"It ain't your fault." His big hands brushed through her hair. "Not your fault at all." 

"I'm trying." She told him earnestly. "I'm trying so hard not to be like..." 

"Hey, you shoosh now." He had his hands on her shoulders, holding her away from him enough to look into her eyes. "Don't ever let me hear you say that, dong ma?" 

"But." She frowned. "It makes everyone sad." 

"No way, babygirl." And his eyes didn't move, so she knew he was telling the truth. He'd never lied to her, not once. "It's a good thing you look an' sound like your Ma. It makes me happy." 

"Liar." She pouted. "You still cry, when you think there ain't no one looking." 

"Maybe I do." His hands came up to cradle her face and his thumbs brushed her cheeks just under her eyes. "But there ain't nothin' makes me happier'n you." 

"Daddy?" Her lip trembled and she whispered words she wasn't supposed to say, hadn't said for months. "I still miss her, sometimes." 

"Me too, babygirl." A big sigh, heavy and deep, she felt it run through both of them. "Me too." 

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title:   **Pieces: the fourth quarter.**  
Series Name:   **Pieces**  
Author:   **Jacqui**  
Details:   **Series**  |  **R**  |  **het**  |  **106k**  |  **01/26/06**  
Characters:  Malcolm, Zoe, Kaylee, Inara, Jayne, Simon, River  
Pairings:  Jayne/Kaylee  
Summary:  Sometimes pieces fit, sometimes they don't and sometimes they can't be put back together. Final installment.  
Sequel to:  Pieces: the third quarter.  
  



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